Like a Dream
by Peggi J. Crawford
Summary: Sometimes a dream simply isn't good enough, especially when it comes to loving someone. Odd/unusual pairings.


Peggi: Wow more fanfiction? Hah, some background. Finally convinced the bf to start watching DBZ. Wanted to start writing fanfiction. Remembered I had written some way back when. Around the time of middle school. So here's something that I wrote when I was entering the 6th grade, and was touched up as of today!

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply, I still don't own Dragonball Z or any of its characters. All I own in here is a twisted, sick, crazy and slightly perverse mind.

Warnings: Cute warm-and-fuzzy feelings ahead, may be slightly disturbing to some readers, this story eventually turned into a yaoi (boy/boy) and yuri (girl/girl) story. Odd pairings. Ya, I was even this twisted when I was little lol.

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Gohan didn't dream often, but when he did, it was almost an Earth-shattering event. He realized he had been asleep but the fear he felt was still too real to be ignored. He could still smell the flames, the burning flesh, feel the heat searing his body. And so, as the rest of the world slept, he took off, running into the night.

His father would still be in bed at this time, and if his mother knew he wasn't catching up on his sleep, she'd have his head for sure! The only thing he knew at this point was to run.

The light from the fire in the cave shone brightly as he made his approach. By now he was covered in mud and was soaking wet; it was raining. Once he'd reached the opening to the cave he slowed his pace down almost to a complete stop. Water dripped from his hair onto the rock floor and his breath finally slowed down to a normal pace.

"It's late," he heard the voice of a friend comment from somewhere in the cave.

"Yeah, I know but I just had to come here. I had a dream!"

"Another one?" Piccolo, who had been training somewhere behind the rocks, emerged and began walking towards Gohan.

"Yeah," Gohan's eyes filled with tears "it was awful! There was the fire again, and I couldn't make it go away! I tried really hard to put it out, I burned my hands really bad!"

Piccolo's first instinct took the best of him, he grabbed the young teen's hands by the wrists and searched frantically for the burn marks.

Gohan giggled and pulled his hands away, "only in the dream, silly."

Piccolo's eyes narrowed at him and he let out a sigh, "you know, they say that dreams are mirrors to the subconcious mind. Maybe your mind is trying to tell you something."

"Tell me something? Like I can read the future? No way, that would be too cool! But I don't have it."

Piccolo laughed. Gohan could always make him laugh, no matter what the situation. Gohan smiled shyly and looked down at his feet.

"Why do you think I keep dreaming about my mom dying?" Gohan asked quietly.

Another sigh from the Namek, and some consideration, "well, maybe you feel like on the inside, she's dead to you. She's keeping you from your friends, not allowing you to fight by our side, no communication with your father and if she knew you were here she'd probably kill us both."

Gohan couldn't hold any tears back anymore, "I wish she would just die like in my dreams! But for real!"

Silence. Quiet sobs were all that could be heard. The older of the two was speechless.

"It's possible she's afraid to lose you, you know."

Piccolo always thought of things that no one else thought of. He saw situations from a different perspective.

"Well she's going to lose me just like she lost my dad! She needs to just leave me alone!"

"She probably feels like she gave your father too much freedom and he became bored with what he had waiting at home. He left for long periods of time to train, during battle, and she had no choice but to wait at home worrying. She doesn't want to lose you too. You're all she has left, Gohan."

This time angry tears fell from Gohan's eyes, "then how does she think I feel?! No friend, no family, no you! It's not fair! I want to get to see people I love and all she wants me to do is sit in a stuffy old room and study! I never get to go anywhere!"

Gohan didn't resist when Piccolo pulled him into a tight hug. It was his way of saying he cared but it was time to shut up. He was probably right, though. His mother had lost a lot in the last few years. Her father had finally decided to try and find love, met someone 'special' and he moved far away. Goku was rarely home and when he was, he was distant and when he did talk to Chi Chi it was usually about fighting or wanting to fight or an upcoming fight. He never stopped to ask her how her days had gone. She and Bulma had never been the same since Vegeta had come into the picture, and the brunette's temper had flared out at Gohan because she had no one else to vent to anymore.

"Give it some time, Gohan."

Gohan put on a pout and crossed his arms, "I just want some space! Why is that too much to ask?"

Piccolo just smirked, "well, if it's space that you want, I'll give that to you."

The pout that was on Gohan's face disappeared and he jumped in front of the Namek who was already beginning to walk away, "no! I didn't mean from you! I meant from my mom! I don't want you to go! I want you to stay with me here, forever! Better yet, let's run away! We can go find my dad! He'll understand!"

The two were eye-level to one another, more or less, but Piccolo couldn't even look Gohan in the eyes.

"Your father won't understand, Gohan. No one will. No one can make this easy and hoping that someone, somewhere out there, can make any sense of it all is a wasted wish. Not even the dragonballs could make anyone accept who we are."

"But Vegeta did," Gohan had a small spark of hope on his face.

Piccolo sighed again, "Vegeta also sleeps around with Android 17. He has no room to talk."

Once again, Gohan knew he was right. But it was still a valid point. He did wish that he knew where his dad was. Even if he didn't understand he would still support his son, unlike Chi Chi.

"Don't you ever get tired of sitting around in this boring cave all day?" Gohan asked, knowing the answer but wanting to hear it anyway.

"I do," he knew what answer Gohan was looking for "but long boring days are worth wonderful nights like this with you."

That was exactly what Gohan was fishing for, "so right now you're happy?"

"Indeed."

"Then let's enjoy the night! We have a few hours before I have to head home!" Gohan was suddenly excited for the night ahead.

Gohan led the way out of the cave, putting out the fire as he walked by, but he stopped in his tracks before he completely left the cave. Piccolo wasn't expecting the sudden stop so he crashed right into him.

The older of the two was slightly aggitated by the abrupt stop, "what are you doing?!"

Gohan turned around and without hesitating he wrapped his arms around Piccolo's neck and locked their lips in a kiss that was short and sweet but forbidden and hot. Piccolo was still in shock from the sudden and random act, but he wouldn't trade this moment for anything in the world. He pulled away from the kiss but began to place gentle kisses on the human's neck. He felt Gohan shiver.

"Do you regret telling me how you felt?" Gohan heard the whisper in his ear.

"Never," Gohan moaned as he felt the sharp nails gently scraping along his back.

"I love you, Gohan"

"I love you, Piccolo, I couldn't live without you."

"You're dreaming," Piccolo said without any emotion behind it.

"That's how I always feel when I'm with you."

"No, Gohan, you really are dreaming."

Snap back to reality. Gohan opened his eyes and frantically searched for something familiar. His father, Trunks, Bulma and Krillin were all sleeping around a fire. Vegeta was off in the corner by a tree smirking at him and Piccolo was sitting in front of the fire concentrating.

Without looking up, Piccolo softly spoke so as not to wake the others, "sounded like you were having a nightmare, Gohan."

"Nightmare? No. It was actually a really great dream. I'm sad you woke me up, actually."

Vegeta laughed quietly in his little corner, "sounded like bad fanfiction if you asked me."

"No one asked you!" Gohan snapped, without missing a beat.

Gohan knew he needed to stop having those crazy dreams. He could make all of the excuses he wanted and lie as often as he wanted, but he knew that Vegeta could read him like a book. He was creepy like that. It was obvious that he had been infatuated with the older male for quite some time. At any point during the day he would pretend to be clumsy and bump into him or trip so that he would catch him. He lost a lot of sleep trying to stay awake, if, for nothing else, so he could spend time with him while it was completely calm, where he could focus on every last detail of the moment. Any time Piccolo was training with someone else Gohan would watch the fight saying he wanted to learn new tips for fighting but the fact of the matter was, he simply wanted to watch him fight. Seeing him covered in sweat, tense, half the time shirtless, it turned him on.

"You should try to get some sleep," Piccolo suggested.

Vegeta smirked and closed his eyes, pretending to be resting.

"I can't sleep," Gohan whined.

"Well then, would you like to meditate with me?"

"Yes!" Gohan scrambled to get up and sat down next to Piccolo.

He sat there, legs crossed, eyes closed, complete silence. Gohan wanted so badly to kiss him, let his dream be real. He had dreams like this every single night, they started off differently each time but always ended the same way. Gohan cracked an eye open and tried to watch Piccolo, every last breath he took, feel his energy, just spend every last second he could being around him.

He noticed Vegeta was no longer in his spot by the tree. This was unusual. His eyes shot open and he looked around. The Saiyan was no where to be seen. Slightly concerned with why he would've taken off, Gohan wondered if he should follow him. Before he could even stand, he saw movement and Vegeta emerged, leaning against the tree, a smirk still on his face.

Vegeta loved to play mind games and in some twisted way, this was one of them. Gohan turned to check on Piccolo, who was still in deep concentration. He probably wouldn't notice if Gohan were to get up and walk away. He stood as quietly as possible and, with a glare on his face, approached Vegeta.

"What's wrong, little Gohan?" Vegeta laughed in a whisper.

"What's going on in your head?! Why do you keep looking at me like that?!"

Vegeta stared at him without any emotion on his face, no sign of what he was thinking, "you're almost, what do you call it? Cute? You expect for me to not know what you have on your mind? You think you hide your feelings well? Feelings make you weak. That's why you are nothing compared to me. You sicken me."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Gohan's eyes lowered to the floor.

"I still think your emotions make you weak, but I feel that if you care about that freakshow, you shouldn't hold it in. Who knows, I might get lucky and all of you will die and then you'll lose your chance to say something before it's too late."

As morbid as that statement was, Gohan knew it was true, but the problem was, no sign of a return for those feelings had been given and it seemed like Piccolo cared for him as a friend, but he knew it went no further than that.

"Go to sleep," Vegeta was through giving his lesson in love and life and it was time for him to be alone now.

Gohan sighed. He walked back to the campfire and sat down next to Piccolo once again. He breathed in deeply and then closed his eyes to meditate once more. Vegeta watched the younger boy as he tried to get comfortable, relax and soon drift into slumber once more. He watched the same routine as every night. The only disturbance for the rest of the night was moments later, just after Gohan fell back asleep. Piccolo draped a blanket over the small teen who was curled up in a ball at this point, and for the rest of the night, simply watched him sleep. Vegeta could watch this comical routine for hours.


End file.
